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By SAM MEDNICK, Associated press
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) – Five hundred cows, two luxury cars, $ 10,000, two bicycles, a boat and a few mobile phones were the final price of a fierce war for a South Korean bride. Sudan, which became viral after the auction, was reported on Facebook. It's the biggest dowry ever paid in this country torn apart by the civil war, the government said.
The highest bid was a man three times older than 17 years old. At least four other men from Eastern Eastern lakes participated in the competition, said Philips Anyang Ngong, a human rights lawyer who tried to stop his candidacy last month. The vice governor of the state was among the candidates.
"It has been reduced to a mere commodity," Ngong told the Associated Press, calling the test "the biggest test of abuse, milking and auctioning of a human being". Everyone involved should be held accountable, he said.
Earlier this month, Nyalong became the ninth wife of the man. The photos posted on Facebook show her sitting next to the groom, dressed in a sumptuous gown and looking down at the floor with a dejected look. The AP uses only his first name to protect his identity.
South Sudan has a deep-rooted cultural practice of paying dowries to wives, usually in the form of cows. He also has a long history of early marriage. Although this practice is now illegal, 40% of girls still marry before the age of 18, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The practice "threatens the lives of girls" and limits the prospects for the future, said Mary Otieno, agency representative in the country.
The bidding war provoked local and international outrage. It took several days for Facebook to delete the message that had posted the auction. After being removed, other articles "glorifying" the situation remained, said George Otim, national director of Plan International South Sudan, to the AP.
"This barbarous use of technology is reminiscent of the slave markets of the past few days.That a girl can be sold to marriage on the world's largest social networking site to date and beyond belief" , did he declare. The auction was discussed, unrealized, on the site.
Facebook has not responded to a request for comment.
While the Government of Southern Sudan condemns the practice of child marriage, it states that it can not regulate the cultural norms of communities, especially in remote areas.
"You can not call that an auction like it's an auction, it's not an offer, if you see it with European eyes, you'll call this an auction, "AP spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told AP. "You have to see it with an African eye, because it's a tradition that goes back thousands of years.There is no word for it in English."
Some local lawmakers and activists disagree. In a statement released this week, the National Alliance of South Sudan Women Lawyers urged officials to abide by the government's plan to end child marriage by 2030. End this practice involves ending the girls' auction.
The official in charge of the fight against human trafficking in South Sudan recalled that the case evoked other cases that he had seen across the country, in which girls were forced or deceived. to get married after being informed that they were going to live with parents and go to school instead.
"It's clear that some human trafficking practices are hidden in our culture," said Mading.
In other cases, girls who grow up in the South Sudanese diaspora are brought back to the country and forced to marry. The AP spoke to several people who know girls who arrived for what they thought were holidays, but were stripped of their passports and forced to marry by their families.
"Some families want children to marry in their own country and in their ethnic communities, but most do so if children misbehave," said Esther Ikere Eluzai, undersecretary of the Ministry of Gender South Sudan.
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